Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The legend of the Stone of Scone

According to Genesis, when Jacob/Israel was returning home from his in-laws', he camped one night and had a dream of a ladder to heaven with angels ascending and descending and God standing on it.  When he woke, Jacob set up the stone, anointed it and called the place Beth-el.
Legend has it that when Babylon conquered Jerusalem, Jeremiah took some of King Zedekiah's daughters and the stone to Tara Hill in Eire.  There, it may have been named the Lia Fail (some sources apply that name to a different stone at Tara).  The stone of Bethel was used in the coronation of the High Kings of Eire.  The claimant would stand on it and if it groaned, he was known to be the rightful Ard Righ (High King).
Now, we come to times a little better documented.  When Fergus MacErca sailed from Eire to Alba to become king of a united Scotland, he took the stone with him.  St Columba prophesied that wherever the stone was, a king of MacErca's line would always reign.  In Scotland, the stone was kept at Scone from whence it received the appellation "the Stone of Scone."  
During his attempt to subjugate Scotland, the dastardly Edward I (Longshanks) took a stone from Scone to London where it was installed in the English coronation chair.  He certainly believed it was the original, but some say the stones were switched and Longshanks got a fake. Whatever happened, English monarchs have been enthroned on it ever since.  There is no record of it ever groaning for any of the Sassenach (English) sovereigns, at least not that I can find.
Queen Elizabeth II (of England) and I of Great Britain, sent the stone and the chair back to Scotland with the stipulation that it be returned in time for the next coronation.
Where will it go next?  Well, use your imagination, but some have suggested that it might be used in the foundation of the future Jerusalem temple.
Yours under the royal oaks,
Nathair /|\

Friday, June 4, 2010

Some relevant quotes

The inquiry is frequently made of me, "Wherein do you differ from others in your religious views?" In reality and essence we do not differ so far in our religious views, but that we could all drink into one principle of love. One of the grand fundamental principles of "Mormonism" is to receive truth, let it come from whence it may. [Teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith, p. 313]


Have the Presbyterians any truth? Yes. Have the Baptists, Methodists, etc., any truth? Yes. They all have a little truth mixed with error. We should gather all the good and true principles in the world and treasure them up, or we shall not come out true "Mormons." [Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 316]